It was a great weekend for Indian cricket with the juniors snatching victory from the jaws of defeat to win the Under-19 Asia Cup, and Team India doing virtually the same in the fifth international against New Zealand to win a first ODI series for coach Gambhir. The two teams at the end of a long twin series of T20Is and ODIs might not have resembled the best XIs both the visitors and the home team could put on the field, but such are the demands of the game in an era of plenty and India came from behind to win after a none too convincing batting display.
The juniors’ celebration of victory may have been more than a bit over the top, but their coming through in a tough situation when victory seemed still too far away as the ninth wicket fell was creditworthy. Their behaviour after the win could be put down to youthful exuberance, particularly as the opponents were Pakistan, but the exulting could easily be attributed to the arrogance of Indian cricket thanks to its riches.
The BCCI will probably support them in this because getting at Pakistan is a kind of hobby horse for the world’s richest cricket organisation. Remember all the fracas over shaking hands ahead of and after matches with Pakistan and Team India absenting themselves from cup presentations because a Pakistan minister was also the chief of the cricket board there.
The amount of talent at the BCCI’s command – as evidenced in their ability to call upon different cricketers for Tests and limited-overs cricket matches of two different varieties – lends it an aura of invincibility. But the game has a way of mocking all this on a special day as we saw in the ODI World Cup final in Ahmedabad three years ago when the whole nation felt let down by the batsmen.
To the credit of the Indian players on the field, they have kept their efforts politics-agnostic except maybe in captain Suryakumar Yadav who went too far with the politicking and finds himself in the wilderness after winning a T20 World Cup for Team India. The squads in New Zealand may not have swept it all as was their ambition, but they stayed competitive in most situations except on the day Matt Henry blew the batting away in a splendid spell of well-directed pace with movement of the new white ball.
From the approaching ODI World Cup point of view, there might be a few alarm signals to be considered because of batting collapses, which coach Gambhir thinks have been occurring too frequently. The stalwarts of the team had their poorest series in New Zealand though Kohli did anchor one chase in the disciplined way batting has to be when the ball is moving all day long. He ticks enough boxes to keep a date with his super ambition of being in the ODI squad in South Africa in under a year from now.
The call on Rohit Sharma would have to be made by those in charge. He has been having a hard time in the last few ODI appearances and since his fitness and reflexes are not in as good a shape as Kohli’s, he cannot be considered an automatic choice despite his great contributions as ODI opener over the years. It is a judgment call that the selectors and coach must take in the team and national interest, and they should be able to do so without any extraneous pressures.
The bowlers have had their share of struggles, taken apart at times in T20Is as they were despite putting in their hard work. With the indefatigable Siraj given his rightful place back at least for the last of the ODIs and Jasprit Bumrah who should be considered for the World Cup provided he is fit and is up to bowling his full quota of 10 overs whenever called upon to do for Team India, Team India should have a better attack for South African conditions where the natural bounce will favour them too.
The ball will not move so much in South Africa as it does in New Zealand but the sporting nature of the surfaces and the extra bounce should prove a different kind of challenge, which Indian batsmen have not stood up to in cricket in South Africa where India is yet to win a Test series, or major ODI tournament either though they did perform exceptionally in the 2003 World Cup but surrendered all too tamely in the final. But, given the form and the general hardening of resolve, Team India will be competitive.
R. Mohan is Resident Editor of Chennai and Tamil Nadu editions of Deccan Chronicle
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: deccanchronicle.com
